Whether they’re personal portfolios or points of contact with world-renowned brands, websites are the public face of digital identities, and cultivating them has become so important. As such, they’re under the watchful eye of our personal connections, consumers… and hackers.
As cybercrime continues to escalate in scope and complexity, security as a core website design principle becomes fundamental. Here are seven tips and tricks to ensure the websites you design are secure from the get-go and from the ground up.
Table of Contents
Encrypting all traffic between users and your website is a fundamental prerequisite for robust security and trust. To do so, obtain an SSL certificate for the site and redirect all traffic through HTTPS.
Picking a reputable hosting service makes things easier. They issue and automatically install SSL certificates for free once the site becomes publicly accessible. Moreover, they’re diligent concerning OS and software updates for their servers and use means like WAFs and DDoS protection to harden your site against attacks.
If not properly protected, input elements like login and form fields represent a severe security risk. Hackers can enter malicious code into them and send it to the server. Such inputs can lead to SQL or URL injection, XSS, and other vulnerabilities.
Client-side input validation is more of a user convenience feature. It ensures users fill in email and other fields correctly, but it is easy to bypass or disable. For effective protection, inputs need to be escaped and sanitized server-side.
When handling user access, you should aim for a balance between avoiding lockouts and preventing brute force attacks. Limiting the number of login attempts while encouraging extra security measures like two-factor authentication will help protect users from account takeovers.
Depending on the type of website you’re designing, stored user data may contain everything from login credentials to personal information and credit card numbers. Protect this data at rest by encrypting it. Salt and hash any stored passwords for extra security.
Users aren’t the only ones who need effective account protection methods. Everyone from the site admin to a freelancer you might eventually hire to spruce up its visual identity needs strong credentials to access the site and any related accounts securely.
A password manager for Firefox, Chrome, or other browsers is convenient for generating and storing unique, complex passwords and making autofill more secure. It works across synced devices and lets you easily extend or revoke temporary site access.
Choosing a reputable password manager is essential since it prevents weak or reused passwords from granting access to the website. The best ones also integrate with 2FA, ensuring the site doesn’t get compromised even if a password does. Finally, the companies behind the best password managers maintain a zero-knowledge architecture, meaning they don’t store or access the credentials you save.
Verbose error messages can expose much about the nature of failed hacking attempts and help attackers refine their strategies. Rather than unintentionally exposing internal paths or database queries, pair vague descriptions for users with extensive server-side logging for later analysis.
Designing a modern website is impossible without drawing on an extensive suite of third-party dependencies. Themes, plugins, and APIs might enhance the website’s features, but they also expand its attack surface.
Setting up automatic updates for these components is a must. It ensures the site takes advantage of the latest security patches as well as feature improvements. It’s also important to regularly review these dependencies and replace any outdated or vulnerable ones with more trustworthy alternatives.
Adopting a thorough logging policy may help identify suspicious activities and patterns before they escalate into security incidents. Events like frequent or frequently failed logins, sudden switches in users’ IP locations, or attempted file uploads should all be detected and scrutinized.
Regular monitoring is also beneficial for website health. It tracks uptime, load speed, and user interaction data, which is invaluable for optimizing performance and engagement.
In today’s digital landscape, prioritizing security from the very beginning of web design is essential. Follow these seven tips and tricks to significantly reduce the risk of cyber threats and build websites that are not only user-friendly but also secure.
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